13.
Consequences of Guidance for Theosis
The guidance that our Orthodox Church offers, with the Holy Services, Patristic
theology, Monasticism, is the anthropocentric guidance. Its centre is
the God-man Christ, and it leads to Theosis.
This brings great joy into our life when we know what a great destiny we
have, and what blessedness awaits us.
To set our sights on Theosis sweetens the pain in every trial and all the
worries of life.
When we are struggling towards the aim of Theosis, that is to say, when
we see one another as prospective gods, our attitude towards our fellow
men changes for the better. How much deeper and more substantial will be
the guidance which we will then give our children! In what a God-pleasing
way a father and mother will then love and respect their children, feeling
the responsibility and holy charge which they have towards them; how much
will they then help them, by the Grace of God, to attain Theosis, the purpose
for which they brought them into the world! And how will they naturally
help them, if they themselves are not oriented towards that purpose, towards
Theosis? How much more respect will we have for ourselves when we feel
that we have been moulded for this great purpose; when we are without the
egotism and pride which opposes God!
Certainly, the Holy Fathers and great theologians of the church say that
it is in this way, by overcoming our self-love and the anthropocentric
philosophy of egotism; that we become real people, true men. Then we will
meet God with reverence and love, but also meet our fellow man with respect
and true dignity not seeing him as a tool of pleasure and exploitation,
but as an icon of God destined for Theosis.
As long as we are closed within ourselves - within our ego – we are
individuals but not persons. Once we exit from our closed individual existence
and begin, in agreement with this guidance based on Theosis, with the Grace
of God, but also with our own cooperation – to love, to offer ourselves
all the more to Him and to our neighbour, we become true persons. This
is to say that when our ego encounters the Thou of God, and the you of
our brother, then we begin to find our lost self. For within the communion
in Theosis for which we were moulded, we are able to open up, to communicate,
to really enjoy one another … and not only in a selfish way.
This is the ethos of the Divine Liturgy, in which we learn to overcome
the narrow, atomistic interest to which the devil, our sins, and our passions
compel us, and instead learn to open up to a communion of sacrifice and
love in Christ.
An awareness of this great calling of his, i.e. of Theosis, comforts and
really completes man.
The Orthodox humanism of our Church is based on this great calling of man,
and therefore it develops all his powers to the extreme.
What other form of humanism, however progressive and liberal it may appear,
is as revolutionary as that of the Church which is able to make man a god?
Only the humanism of the Church reaches so high.
Today especially, when so many attempt to deceive the people, and in particular
the young, by projecting false humanisms which in effect maim man and do
not complete him, the emphasis given in this guidance of the Church has
great importance.
Back - TOC - Next
Source: Praxis
Research Institute
Praxis can be contacted at the following addresses: UK Praxis Research Institute,
Three Barns, Aish Lane, South Brent, Devon TQ10 9JF ENGLAND
UK TEL: 01364 73205 praxis.uk@praxisresearch.org USA Praxis Research Institute,
2931 W. Belmont Ave. Chicago, IL 60618 USA
US TEL (773) 588-6294 praxis.us@praxisresearch.org US voicemail enquiries: (847)
459-1990
Praxis Research Institute is an international non-profit organization registered
in the State of Massachusetts |
